


The Judge and The Accused

by idrilswritings (idrilhadhafang)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Afterlife, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Childbirth, F/M, Female Protagonist, Gen, Heroes to Villains, Hopeful Ending, Original Fiction, Redemption, Reincarnation, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sexism, Strong Female Characters, Villain Protagonist, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:26:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22669252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilswritings
Summary: A murderer is sentenced in the afterlife.
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Female Character, Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 1
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	The Judge and The Accused

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Immortality/Reincarnation 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Warning for a brief instance of language that others see as sexist.

It was something that could be called Hell back on the planet known as Earth. A kingdom down below, the Judge in charge. It would have been expected for the Judge, the ruler in charge, to be a big red devil...and not the olive-skinned woman with black hair that fell to her waist. That had been her form when she was appointed, and she saw no reason to shed it.   
  
And when her guard said that the newest Accused was here...well, the Judge couldn’t shirk her responsibility.   
  
“Send her in,” said the Judge. Already, she couldn’t say that she was looking forward to this.   
  
The door opened, and it was in that moment that the woman who had been called savior to some, monster to others, entered. She was dressed in cleaner clothes than she had when she’d died — a long tunic and pants, gray in color, light enough to contrast with her cleaner hair falling down her shoulders. She didn’t look like the monster that people had alternately feared and worshipped. She looked broken, if the Judge was to be perfectly honest — she looked like someone who was just coming to terms with the gravity of what she’d done.   
  
Had she considered that, when she had ultimately died, ultimately went out trying to save lives, as opposed to taking them? Had she considered that when she had made her final choice in life?   
  
“Liana,” said the Judge, “You already know why you’re here, don’t you?”  
  
“It’s what happens with everyone,” Liana said. She sounded sad, resigned. “I made mistakes. I didn’t expect them to get gory.”  
  
“Was your first mistake,” one of the Watchers sneered, “Stabbing a man who only had your best interests at heart?”  
  
Liana paused. “If by ‘best interests’,” she said, “You mean he was the man who caused untold anguish to myself and countless others, I don’t regret that. Or why I did it. Yes, I still hate him — and I wish nothing but torment for him, in whatever incarnation others dream up for him." A beat. “And I don’t care about who made him cold. Everyone has potential for that. It isn’t guaranteed to make them spiral.”  
  
The Judge supposed that Liana made a good point. It was unsettling to think, coming from someone who had started off killing John Beckett’s followers before she lost herself. Before killing became all she knew. And then there was the pain in her voice. The pain of a young girl who, long ago, had just wanted to protect her friends, and others.   
  
“Liana,” the Judge said, “Have you had...time to think about it?”  
  
Liana looked pained. Then, “I have.”  
  
“Have you considered...what made you cold as well?”  
  
"I did. Diego caught up to me.” Diego had been her friend, long ago. Too long ago. “And I saw...Beckett deserved what he got. Certain men of his too. But everyone else...didn’t.” Liana’s voice cracked, and the Judge could all but sense the distress in it. _Are Beckett and I more alike than I think,_ was the unspoken question.   
  
The Judge paused. “What you forgot, in your rampage, is something that anyone would forget. Compassion isn’t deserved. It isn’t a reward for virtue, for being long-suffering. It simply is. It’s not the same as absolution, or making excuses. There are those who I don’t forgive for their crimes, who I don’t absolve. But compassion is what they need, if not deserve. Compassion, besides, takes the fear out of many people. You see an individual as an individual, not a monster, a nebulous beast out to destroy you — and it frees both of you.”  
  
Liana seemed to be considering it. Then, “We didn’t have room for that. At least I thought...”  
  
“How old were some of the soldiers you killed, Liana?”  
  
Liana seemed to go still.   
  
“Were those conscripted against their will monsters? Or the brainwashed? You still remember how their eyes looked, didn’t you, Liana, before you ended their lives?”   
  
“I do,” Liana said. Her voice sounded weak, defeated.   
  
The Watcher sneered. “At least Beckett could say to have been groomed into evil. Better than a bloodthirsty cunt who kills for fun.”  
  
The Judge shot the Watcher a sharp look. “Impressive,” she said icily. “You missed the point of everything I said.”  
  
“I didn’t kill for fun,” Liana said. “I killed because...it got easier. I saw Beckett’s face in every soldier, I saw his victims everywhere. It got easier. It became all I knew.” A beat. “And I believed it. Every word.”  
  
The Judge nodded. “So is the nature of vengeance. You kill to sate the gaping maw in your heart, and the hunger doesn’t stop.”  
  
“She had everything,” the Watcher sneered. “A coddled killer in the making who never had to work for anything...”  
  
The Judge glared at him. “Any more personal attacks on the accused, and I will throw you out personally.”  
  
The Watcher went silent. That, the Judge thought, was a relief.   
  
The Judge continued. “Liana Wood...I doubt you can be concretely classified as villain or victim. In the end, you are both. The woman who did good, and the woman who did harm. There is a tragedy in that fact, in the matter that you could have been a hero who echoed throughout history — and you became the woman who would have seemed unthinkable to you. Your crimes cannot be overlooked. Neither can the circumstances that Ed you here. I sentence you to a second life. A life where you will relearn what you forgot. You will forget your past life...but you will learn lessons you should have learned long ago.”  
  
“Get on with it then,” Liana said.   
  
The Judge did so. It was a snap of her fingers, and the manifestation of Liana’s spirit disappeared, faded away into nothingness. It would be a hard life, the Judge thought. It would still be a life worth living.   
  
***  
  
It was in a hospital in 2020 that after what seemed like far too long that Patricia Moore, thirty years old, delivered her daughter. It was something that she never thought would happen; she’d been trying so hard to conceive, to get pregnant in the first place, and learning she was pregnant had been such a relief. And now, hearing the wails of her newborn baby, Patricia could have wept for joy — even as the doctor in charge jokingly referred to the baby as “you bad girl”. Eventually, the baby was cleaned up and handed to Patricia, even as her husband Matt looked on. Matt’s smile was almost blindingly bright.   
  
“We made a miracle,” Matt said softly. “Both of us did.”  
  
Patricia smoothed a lock of brown hair out of the baby’s eyes tenderly. “We did. She’s beautiful."   
  
***  
  
It was in that moment that the baby — the new vessel of Liana Wood — was christened Eleanor (or Ellie) Liana Moore. And from down below, the Judge watched, and knew that only time would tell if the right decision was made.


End file.
